Workers Dig For Italy Dam Break Victims

July 21, 1985|United Press International

STAVA, ITALY — Workers searching for victims of a dam disaster rescued a woman Saturday who survived 18 hours buried in mud up to her mouth. At least 170 bodies had been recovered and the death toll was expected to reach 200.

Authorities began considering manslaughter charges against the owners of a mining company that used the dam to wash fluorite it excavated on the slope of Monte del Bivio, a half mile above Stava.

The dam burst Friday, sending a giant wave of mud and water cascading into the Dolomite Mountain resort of Val di Fiemme in the Alps of northeast Italy.

Civil Protection Minister Giuseppe Zamberletti told the Cabinet in Rome that the disaster left a total of 194 dead or missing. Early estimates had put the death toll at 220.

Officials said a force of 4,800 soldiers, police and firemen working around the clock had recovered 170 bodies, leaving 24 people missing and presumed dead.

Rescue workers wearing gloves and surgical masks and wielding picks, shovels and earth-moving equipment found Maria Assunta Cara, 24, of Samassi, Sardinia, trapped in the ruins of the Miramonti Hotel where she worked.

She was rushed to the town of Cavalese by ambulance and then flown by helicopter to a hospital in Trento, where doctors said her condition was serious but not critical.

Trento State Prosecutor Francesco Simeoni notified the owners of the Prealpi Mining Co. of Bergamo that they are under investigation on possible charges of multiple manslaughter and causing an unpremeditated disaster.

There were conflicting reports, with one Tesero township official claiming that the dam had sprung a leak as early as May.

Simeoni questioned Giulio Rota, 63, co-owner of the firm along with his brother, Aldo, 64, and confiscated all documents on the mine in the possession of Mayor Adriano Iellici of Tesero. Stava is part of the township of Tesero.